BB Study 1938 June 28
In 1938 the USN invoked the tonnage escalator clause of the Washington Naval
Treaty and this meant that new battleships should be designed up to 45,000 t
standard. The designers approach was to add to the existing South Dakota
(II) design one more triple 16" turret and sufficent power to maintain
27 knots. It resulted in the design of January 1938. thsi design was later refined,
a longer hull was added which in turn required only 130,000 SHP (vs. the 170,000
of the Jan. design) to maintain 27 knots. Also full secondary battery was provided
(that is 20 X 5"/38 guns vs. 16 on the former design). There were two versions,
one with a 800 the other with a 785 feet long hull. Otherwise the designs were
the same. Standard displacement would have been 45,099 and 45,292 tons and 53,984
and 54077 tons full load respectively.
